Dear John E. Carey
Peace and Freedom,
Dear Sir,
I hope that you and your team at the Peace and Freedom will be alright. It is not yet clear as what happened, but all of sudden the Taliban dreaded chief Baitullah Mehsud has offered a truce and the government of Pakistan with any hesitation has accepted the offer.
Baitullah Mehsud residing in Waziristan tribal region has been accused by the government of murdering PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto. The dreaded terrorist is wanted to Pakistan as well as United States.
I think the government of Pakistan has again been playing a game in the tribal areas.
Either Baitullah Mehsud is in the custody of the government or he has been killed.
Actually some other dreaded terrorists such as Osama bin Laden have been trying to divert the attention of the United States. They with active cooperation of their sympathizers in Pakistan have created Baitullah Mehsud. He may not be powerful as presented by the media.
Frankly speaking the terrorists have a strong team of newsmen.
A leading newspaper of Pakistan establishment in its editorial stated that the death of a general and a number of army officers in a helicopter crash in South Waziristan is a tragic incident. While hundreds of troops and several officers have died during operations in the region, the loss of the GOC Kohat and senior officers accompanying him is all the more serious because they were directly in charge of the actions.
It is unfortunate that the Army continues to bleed in a domestic operation, which would have been unnecessary if those in power had not decided to become active partners in what many perceive as a war being fought in pursuit of Washington’s peculiar agenda.
It is time the policy was revised and the Army extracted from the quagmire.
There is a need on the part of the militants also to avoid turning their own country into a battlefield. Much blood has already been spilled inside FATA and Swat as a result of suicide attacks that have killed scores of innocent people. A continuation of the standoff could lead to foreign military intervention, thus turning the country into another Iraq.
The ceasefire declared by a spokesman of Tehrik-e-Taliban could constitute a step towards ending the confrontation, provided intentions are not to gain time to improve the position of the militants on ground to be better able to pursue their aims. The offer is all the more significant as it is unilateral and is for an indefinite period while it also binds the Tehrik to maintain a ceasefire from Waziristan to Swat.
According to the spokesman, the decision was taken after the security forces had started vacating positions in certain key places. In fact, the army and FC checkposts are a new thing in Waziristan where maintenance of law and order has always remained the responsibility of the tribal elders and any violations were dealt with in accordance with tribal customs.
The South and North Waziristan agencies have for decades remained peaceful under the system while the local tribes have effectively guarded the country’s western borders free of cost.
An accord with local commanders in South Waziristan signed two years back had helped promote peace and eradicate foreigners from the region. A similar accord was about to be brokered in Mohmand agency when two deadly operations, perceived to have been conducted by American security forces from across the border, shattered the peace moves. There is a need once again to rely on negotiations rather than shock and awe methods.
The decision to form a grand tribal jirga, announced by Interior Minister Lt Gen (retd) Hamid Nawaz, comprising influential figures from the tribal areas to work out a peace agreement in Waziristan, is a step in the right direction. It is time the government relied on the time-tested methods of maintaining peace in the tribal areas.
According to a report, Pakistani Ambassador to the US Mehmood Ali Durrani has claimed that Abu Laith al-Libi, a Libyan national and a top Al-Qaeda leader was killed by Pakistani forces rather than by the US forces.
“Pakistani forces carried out the operation in which Libi and 12 other militants were killed,” reported a private TV channel, quoting Durrani as saying in an interview. He further said that it was not a correct impression that Pakistani forces were failing to counter the threat of terrorism. He ruled out the news that Pak authorities were holding negotiations with Tali-ban for truce. He brushed aside the impression that Pakistan was harbouring terrorist outfits to turn its foreign policy successful.
Dear Sir, confusion at the official level has been affecting the war on terrorism. I shall repeat the words that you have been doing a lot for giving crushing defeat to terrorists in the tribal areas. We shall remain grateful to you for your cooperation and love.
Again thank you very much,
Yours sincerely,
Muhammad Khurshid,
Khar, Bajaur Agency, Pakistan
